The intensifying debate over abortion rights and criminalization in the United States has reached new and deeply personal levels, as recent stories from Texas and South Carolina reveal the far-reaching consequences of restrictive laws and prosecutorial zeal. These cases expose a nation grappling with the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and the patchwork of responses by states and courts that have left pregnant people, families, and physicians navigating an increasingly perilous landscape.
In Texas, the story of one family’s struggle with infertility and heartbreak has captured national attention—and sparked outrage from all sides of the abortion debate. According to reporting by Live Action, a Texas couple, after years of trying to conceive, turned to in vitro fertilization (IVF). The process, while offering hope, also meant that several embryos were discarded in the pursuit of a healthy pregnancy—a fact that anti-abortion advocates point to as evidence of the commodification of human life. “Traditional IVF sorts embryos based on their ‘viability’ and many clinics screen for disabilities or even the potential of future illness and discard those that are ‘less fit.’ Thus, a number of human beings made in the image of God were killed!” wrote Ken Ham for Answers in Genesis.
The couple’s hopes seemed to be realized when one embryo, a girl they named Pheobe, was successfully implanted. But at the 17-week anatomy scan, devastating news arrived: Pheobe was diagnosed with encephalocele, a rare neural tube defect with a 55% mortality rate. Their doctor explained the grim options: continue the pregnancy and wait for a natural death, carry to term with the likelihood the baby would suffocate at birth, or terminate the pregnancy—which, he said, would be “the best option for your future fertility.” The mother, torn by the prospect of prolonging her daughter’s suffering, chose to seek a surgical abortion at 19 weeks. Because Texas law prohibits abortions at that stage, she had to travel out of state. The procedure, she later recounted, was not only emotionally shattering but physically traumatic, resulting in retained tissue and scarring that necessitated full reconstructive surgery of her uterus.
In a decision that has drawn both condemnation and sympathy, the couple later named their newborn son Reid Owen Edwards—deliberately choosing the initials R.O.E., a reference to Roe v. Wade. As the mother explained, “He wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t given an abortion.” For critics, this act symbolized a culture that, in their view, treats babies as commodities and devalues human life. “This is truly disturbing—a family naming their baby after the procedure that took the life of his disabled sister!” wrote Ham. For others, it is a testament to the impossible choices families face under restrictive abortion laws and the ways in which personal grief becomes politicized.
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the criminalization of pregnancy-related actions has reached a new fever pitch. As reported by Mother Jones and detailed in the book The Pregnancy Police: Conceiving Crime, Arresting Personhood, the state has built a shadow system for prosecuting pregnant people, even as its legislature recently failed to pass SB 323—a bill that would have imposed one of the nation’s harshest abortion bans. On November 17, 2025, a 20-year-old woman in Rock Hill was charged with attempted murder and unlawful neglect of a child after allegedly taking medication to terminate her pregnancy. The infant was born alive, an extremely rare occurrence, and remains in critical condition. Despite the state’s current laws, which do not criminalize abortion, the woman was arrested and faces severe charges.
This case is not isolated. Since the 1980s, nearly 300 people in South Carolina have been charged with crimes related to their pregnancies, including drug use, stillbirths, self-managed abortions, and pregnancy loss due to mental health crises. The prosecutions have disproportionately affected Black women, according to data cited by Mother Jones. In one harrowing example from 2004, a migrant farm worker was jailed for months after a self-managed abortion, with the prosecutor initially seeking homicide charges and even contemplating the death penalty.
Legal experts and advocates argue that these prosecutions represent a fundamental breakdown of the criminal justice system. “South Carolina prosecutors are taking the law into their own hands—arresting vulnerable and marginalized pregnant people for things that are not crimes,” said Karen Thompson, legal director of Pregnancy Justice, in an interview with Abortion, Every Day. The lack of clear legal definitions has allowed prosecutors to pursue charges for conduct that is not explicitly criminalized, creating a climate of fear and uncertainty for pregnant people and their families.
Compounding the crisis, South Carolina’s infant and maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the nation, a situation exacerbated by the closure of rural hospitals and the departure of OB-GYNs unwilling to practice under draconian abortion laws. The consequences are dire: more pregnant people are left without access to essential medical care, and the threat of prosecution looms over those who experience complications or loss.
In Texas, defenders of the state’s restrictive abortion laws argue that the media has distorted the facts and unnecessarily alarmed the public. Texas Right to Life, in a recent statement, accused ProPublica of “misrepresenting a Texas woman’s medical complications to promote abortion expansion.” They insist that Texas law allows physicians to intervene when a mother’s life is at risk, and that “miscarriage management and treatment for ectopic pregnancies are not considered abortions under Texas law.” The group points to recent legislative efforts, including the Life of the Mother Act (Senate Bill 31) and the Woman and Child Protection Act (House Bill 7), as evidence that the state is committed to protecting both women and their unborn children.
“No physician should ever withhold medically necessary care for fear of prosecution,” Texas Right to Life emphasized, arguing that the law is clear and that ongoing education for medical professionals will ensure that women are not denied life-saving treatment. Critics, however, contend that the chilling effect of vague or punitive laws has already led to delays and denials of care, with tragic consequences for women and families across the state.
The broader picture is one of escalating conflict, confusion, and human cost. In the post-Dobbs era, states like Texas and South Carolina have become battlegrounds where the meaning of personhood, parental rights, and medical ethics are contested not only in legislatures and courts, but in the most intimate moments of family life. The result, as these stories reveal, is a nation divided not only by ideology, but by the lived realities of those caught in the crossfire.
As lawmakers, prosecutors, doctors, and families wrestle with these issues, the stakes could not be higher. The choices made in statehouses and courtrooms reverberate through hospital corridors and living rooms, shaping the futures of parents and children alike. Whether these policies bring protection or peril remains fiercely debated, but one thing is certain: the human stories at the heart of this struggle will not soon be forgotten.
